This is just spooky.

Spooky, but in kind of a good way.

A few years ago, I co-wrote a Doctor Who fanfic novella, Shepherd Moons, with my friend James Bow. My father just e-mailed me after reading it, and he misspelled “Shepherd,” which got me to thinking. I looked up a few things, and found out that the story had apparently done some developing on its own without my being aware of it.

The story was set in Toronto, not too far into the future, and involved a mysterious force triggering the herding instinct and turning the people of the city into mindless mobs, like flocks of sheep without a shepherd. The climax took place at a demonstration and rally, which I pictured as taking place in Nathan Philips Square, the large public square just outside Toronto City Hall. However, because this was supposed to be set a few years in the future, I decided to rename the square after a more recent mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman. So the dramatic conclusion of Shepherd Moons, which involved a desperate attempt to either call on or create a shepherd, took place in Lastman Square.

I will swear on whatever you want me to swear on that, at the time, I had no idea that there was an actual Mel Lastman Square in Toronto…

…and it’s just a few blocks away from Sheppard Avenue.